f o t o b i b l i o g r a f i c a

Berenice Abbott

American photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) found her calling when she began working as an apprentice in the studio of Man Ray in Paris, in the early 1920s. Within a few years she established herself as a portrait photographer of originality, and her subjects included luminary figures from the literary and artistic community. During this period she also discovered the work of Atget, which she then promoted and publicized alongside her own work. Atget may have also inspired Abbott in her decade-long series of New York City photographs of the 1930s, which included her most well-known photographs and exemplify her precise and exacting style. In the 40s and 50s Abbott almost singlehandedly established the new field of scientific photography, struggling against chauvinism and skepticism, and inventing many new techniques for this specialized endeavour.

Abbott, Berenice.
Text by Elizabeth McCausland.
Changing New York.
New York: E. P. Dutton, 1939.
New York: Dover Publications, 1973 [reprint with title changed to New York in the Thirties]

Abbott, Berenice.
A Guide to Better Photography.
New York: Crown Publishers, 1941.

Abbott, Berenice.
The View Camera Made Simple.
Chicago: Ziff-Davis, 1948.

Lanier, Henry Wysham.
Photographs by Berenice Abbott.
Greenwich Village, Today and Yesterday.
New York: Harper, 1949.

Valens, Evans G.
Photographs by Berenice Abbot.
Magnet.
Cleveland & New York: World Publishing, 1964.
London: Longman Group, 1970.

Valens, Evans G.
Photographs by Berenice Abbot.
Motion.
Cleveland: World Publishing, 1965.
London: Longman Group, 1970.

Abbott, Berenice.
Text by Chenoweth Hall.
A Portrait of Maine.
New York: Macmillan, 1968.

Valens, Evans G.
Photographs by Berenice Abbot.
The Attractive Universe: Gravity and the Shape of Space.
Cleveland: World Publishing, 1969.

Abbott, Berenice.
Foreword by Muriel Rukeyser.
Introduction by David Vestal.
Photographs.
New York: Horizon Press, 1970.

Abbott, Berenice.
Berenice Abbott: Documentary Photographs of the 1930s.
Cleveland, Ohio: The Gallery, 1980.

Tousley, Nancy.
The Berenice Abbott Portfolios.
Calgary, Alberta: Glenbow Museum, 1982.

O’Neal, Hank.
Introduction by John Canaday.
Berenice Abbott: American Photographer.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982.
London: Thames & Hudson, 1982. [under different title: Berenice Abbot: 60 Years of Photography]

Abbott, Berenice.
Essay by Julia Van Haaften.
Berenice Abbott.
New York: Aperture Foundation, 1988, 2005.

Abbott, Berenice.
Essay by Cheryl Finley.
Berenice Abbott.
East Rutherford, NJ: Commerce Graphics, 1988.

Abbott, Berenice.
Edited with introductions and checklist by Julia Van Haaften.
Berenice Abbott, Photographer: A Modern Vision.
New York: New York Public Library, 1989.

Abbott, Berenice.
Foreword, Muriel Rukeyser; Introduction, David Vestal.
Photographs.
Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.

Mitchell, Joseph.
With photographs by Berenice Abbott.
The Bottom of the Harbor.
New York: Limited Editions Club, 1991.

Yochelson, Bonnie.
Berenice Abbott: Changing New York.
New York: New Press, Museum of the City of New York, 1997.

Abbott, Berenice.
Berenice Abbott, Eugene Atget.
Santa Fe, NM: Arena Editions, 2002.

[Sotheby's Auction Catalogue.]
Berenice Abbott's New York: Photographs from the Museum of the City of New York.
New York: Sotheby's, 2002.

Sullivan, George.
Berenice Abbot, Photographer: An Independent Vision.
New York: Clarion Books, 2006.

Berenice Abbott notes

Abbott, Berenice.
Text by Elizabeth McCausland.
Changing New York.
New York: E. P. Dutton, 1939.

Copies of the first edition from 1939 are very rare. A copy in fair condition might cost $500, while one in very good to fine condition might go for $1000 to $2000.

Lanier, Henry Wysham.
Photographs by Berenice Abbott.
Greenwich Village, Today and Yesterday.
New York: Harper, 1949.

Very good to fine copies are about $200.

Valens, Evans G.
Photographs by Berenice Abbot.
Magnet.
Cleveland & New York: World Publishing, 1964.
London: Longman Group, 1970.

Pawprint Books was asking $150 for an ex-library copy of this one, while Andrew Cahan had an inscribed fine copy for $375.

Valens, Evans G.
Photographs by Berenice Abbot.
Motion.
Cleveland: World Publishing, 1965.
London: Longman Group, 1970.

Fine copies of this one have been offered for about $150.